Eklypse and the Legends
by Braven Eklypse
Summary: The story of my avatar in the City of Heroes/Villians game.


_**Chapter 1**_

**Dark Beginnings**

"Are you boys okay?" a firefighter asked. No response.

"Boys! Come on we need to get you two to safety," he said again, grabbing their wrists and leading them away. They followed slowly; walking in a trance. The only thing running through their heads was the memory of what had happened five minutes ago and how they had become orphans in that time. His mother's screams were burned into Brett's memory, repeating and repeating until he just wanted him to stop. He just wanted it to be over. He just wanted to die. He didn't want to accept reality, he wanted to make it all into a bad dream, to suddenly wake up and have his mother's warmth comforting him, just as she did when he was a young child.

As the shrieks in his head died out, the images started to process. Brett understood that his father was killed in the initial explosion, that his chest had been ripped open by the blown fuse, spilling blood across the kitchen. That's when his mother's first scream came in, alerting the dosing Brett of the danger. She tried to run out. She didn't make it. The flames grew incredibly fast, engulfing the kitchen in a matter of seconds, eradicating any hope of a normal life for the boys. His mother's screams continued, warning the boys to stay away. But they were drawn to the terror, trying to see what was going on. That moment would prove to be their worst.

It was then that their mother's screams died out and they saw the flames spread across her body. She fell to the ground as her skin darkened. Her pearly-white eyes were the last thing they saw before the firefighter pulled them to safety. They would understand later how important it was to have a fire station next door. Moments after they left, the entire apartment complex was on fire.

Brett awoke. He sat up in his bunk and starred into the darkness.

"It was just a dream" he thought as he tried to suppress the memory, as he had done for the past six years. Brett stood up, grabbed boots and wallet and walking silently out the door.

He walked across the Army base thinking about his memories that were proving to be impossible to suppress as of late. He thought about talking to his brother about it, but that might only make him mad; they rarely spoke of _that day_. He pulled out his wallet and took out a picture taken six years earlier.

"You were always so happy back then Blain..." Brett thought as he clutched the picture. He put it back in his wallet and noticed another. It was a picture of five teenagers that Brett hadn't seen in a while.

He pulled it out an examined it in the dim streetlight. It was a picture of him, Blain and their friends, Mickey, Billy and Jerid, taken three months earlier when they had just finished boot camp. Something about the picture puzzled Brett though. And then he realized it; they were standing in front on Bunker 3AE, which had since been demolished. He thought back, remembering what had happened;

The bunker had been used secretly as an inter-dimensional research facility. Blain and Billy's squad had been assigned for security for the scientists and their research. On this fateful day however, the scientists where starting up their portal cannon for the first time. This technology was taken from the Portal Corporation of Peregrine Island and had been adapted into a cannon that could be used as a weapon. Blain explained most of this information bit by bit after the incident. He said that as the cannon was firing up, it caught fire and exploded. Blain was the only survivor.

The remains of that building had since been demolished. But Blain was never the same; he rarely smiled and he was always out at night. In fact, Brett remembered, he hadn't thought to check if his brother was even in his bunk when he awoke. Brett decided to get back to bed and started to the cabin. He passed Mickey's cabin on the way as he pocketed the photo.

"The sun's rising…" he thought as he continued to walk.

Fifty feet away from the cabin however, Brett stopped. He heard a strange buzzing sound that was growing louder by the second. But before he had time to comprehend what was happening, the earth below Brett shook as several explosions rocked the Army base. He looked around to find many of the bunkers and cabins on fire and the buzzing noise silencing most other sounds. Then Brett realized what it was; black assault flyers with a red spider emblem on them; the mark of Arachnos. Brett darted towards his cabin to grab his gun when a trail of white smoke sped overhead. It hit his cabin, sending out a massive shockwave that annihilated the building and knocked Brett off his feet.

"JERID!" Brett screamed towards the burning building. No response. Brett then jumped to his feet and ran towards the burning ruins. He ran through the crippled doorway and made his way through the flames and smoke to Jerid's bunk. What he found was yet another memory to suppress; a severed arm holding the same picture of five teenagers that hugged Brett's thigh in his pocket. Then sanity caught up with Brett as he dove out of the cabin as it collapsed to ashes.

"Brett! Brett! You okay? Get up, we have to get some cover!" a familiar voice said from behind him. It was Mickey, holding an M16 on each army.

"Mickey! Jerid is-" Brett began.

"I know, but we can't worry about that right now! We have to get to cover!" Mickey said, pulling Brett up and leading him away from the cabin. This judgment in a time of crisis was the reason why Mickey had the title of Lieutenant. Mickey handed Brett one of the guns and they knelt by the side of a bunker. The men opened fire on the flyers as they continued their assault.

"Get to the field!" Mickey screamed as a missile came hurdling at the bunker they were taking cover behind. The two men ran and dove into the field, barely missing the fireball. Then they saw it; a dark figure walking across the field towards them. Mickey barely made out the image to be wearing an army uniform the same as his in the rising sunlight.

"Hit the deck soldier!" he yelled at him while he fired at a passing flyer. But the figure did not stop. Instead, a dark mist strangely appeared around him.

"Meta-human…" Mickey whispered to himself as he turned his gun towards the figure.

"Stand down or be shot down," Mickey said in a dark voice, barely loud enough for the figure to hear. As Brett turned to face him however, he raised one hand.

"Take this!" Mickey said, opening fire. His shots were in vain however, as the bullet bounced off of his strange mist. The figure then raised his other arm and it on top of the first at the elbow, forming the shape of a number 4. Then Brett heard the dark whisper in a strangely familiar voice.

"Moonbeam" he said, instantly sending a black beam of death flying at Mickey. The pulse hit him in the heart, sending him flying backwards and painting the grass red with blood. Brett looked towards him as His friend's head fell to the side, revealing his pearly-white eyes. This time Brett saw that image however, he did not freeze. He dropped his gun and charged the figure, preparing to die, but also preparing to get vengeance for his fallen comrade. Brett ran up as the dark figure stopped. Brett prepared to swing but stopped halfway. He looked through the thickening mist to see the figure's face; it was Blain.

"Blain-but" Brett began, stunned by the identity of the ghostly figure.

"Assassin's Eclipse" Blain whispered, hitting his brother in the gut with a lightning-fast fist. Brett dropped to his knees, gasping for air.

"Why…" Brett asked with his last breathe as he fell to the ground and watched his brother grab a rope dangling from one of the flyers. The rope retracted, pulling Blain into the flyer as it flew off. The onslaught ended minutes later and the paramedics moved in. Brett saw the medic on top of him, pumping air into his chest to keep him alive. The helicopter flew in as Brett continued in his trance. He saw what was going on, but he was on the verge of death, unable to hear or see clearly. Ashes fell to the ground like snow as the sky burned red. All was silent, happening in slow motion. Brett fell unconscious, wondering if it was the end as the paramedics loaded him into the helicopter.

The sun shone through the white curtains of the hospital bed. Brett looked around and remembered the events of two days earlier. He found himself again wanting the events of his life to be a dream; Jerid and Mickey's deaths, Blain's betrayal. Brett looked in the other direction and saw the doctors talking to each other, pointing at his bed, not knowing that their subject was awake.

"Why would you risk it?" the first doctor asked.

"We had no choice! Our last subject was killed in the attack and this one would have died without it!" the second one responded.

"We still should have gotten his consent,"

"He will thank us, it saved his life. And besides, the serum gave him none of the um… side effects that we had hoped for,"

"That's some good news I guess…" the first doctor replied solemnly as he walked away. Brett then starred at the ceiling wondering what they were talking about.


End file.
